This invention relates generally to telecommunications systems, and more particularly to a method and system for managing multiple management protocols in a network element.
Telecommunications systems include customer premise equipment (CPE), local loops connecting each customer premise to a central office (CO) or other node, nodes providing switching and signaling for the system, and internode trunks connecting the various nodes. The customer premise equipment (CPE) includes telephones, modems for communicating data over phone lines, computer and other devices that can directly communicate video, audio, and other data over a datalink. The network nodes include traditional circuit-switch nodes, which have transmission pass dedicated to specific users for the duration of a call and employ continuous, fixed-bandwidth transmission as well as packet-switch nodes that allow dynamic bandwidth, dependent on the application. The transmission media between the nodes may be wireline, wireless, or a combination of these or other transmission medias.
In a telecommunication system, the nodes are managed by standardized management protocols such as Transaction Language One (TL-1), simple network management protocol (SNMP), Common Management Information Service Element (CMISE), and the like. Generally speaking, each of these management protocols includes a protocol agent and object model. The agent is responsible for parsing the external management commands and maintaining communication sessions with external management stations or users. The object model is a management information base (MIB). The MIB is a data structure built for a specific management protocol to exchange the management information between a node and external management stations.
Multiple protocol nodes that handle disparate types of traffic are typically required to support multiple management protocols such as TL-1, SNMP, and/or CMISE. Provision of multiple databases to support the different protocols requires large amounts of resources to implement the databases and maintain data integrity across the databases. One attempt to use a single database for multiple protocols configured the database in accordance with one protocol and used a protocol adapter for a second protocol. The protocol adapter translates protocol messages from the second protocol to the first protocol and responses back to the second protocol. Due to the incompatibility between management protocols, however, the adapter is a complex component that is expensive to implement. In addition, the adapter is inefficient due to the protocol translations, which slow down response time. Other attempts to support multiple management protocols with a single database provided only limited functionality for one of the protocols while creating special commands for the other. This solution is expensive to implement and provides only a partial solution.
The present invention provides a method and system for managing multiple management protocols in a network element that substantially eliminates or reduces problems associated with previous methods and systems. In particular, the common MIB provides a layer of abstraction to isolate internal data representations from data representations made externally to a network element. This allows a network element to have a single, consistent internal representation of data, and at the same time, support multiple different external interfaces for management.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a network element comprises a first subsystem operable to receive management transactions in a first management protocol and to map the transactions to a common management protocol. A second subsystem is operable to receive management transactions in a second management protocol and to map the transactions to the common management protocol. A common management information base (MIB) includes a dataset and a common interface to the dataset. The common interface is operable to access the dataset to process transactions received from the first and second subsystems in the common management protocol.
Technical advantages of the present invention include providing a protocol independent MIB for managing multi-protocol network elements within a telecommunications network. In particular, the common MIB provides a layer of abstraction to isolate data representations internal to the network element from data representations made externally to the network element. This allows the network element to have a single, consistent internal representation of data and at the same time support multiple different external interfaces for management. As a result, data integrity and consistency is guaranteed as only a single database is maintained.
To support multiple external data representations, the network element performs transformations to convert the data between the internal representation and the required external representation format. Thus, adaptation functions between management protocols is eliminated and each management protocol is capable to support complete management of the network element. Moreover, the modular design of the common MIB allows for time and cost efficient testing, integration and packaging of the system.
Other technical advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art from the following figures, description, and claims.